Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

THE LATE LIEUTENANT ANNAT.
HIS MILITARY CAREER ENDED.,
The following particulars concerning
Lieutenant Annat, whose death in action at
Elands River has been reported, will be
read with Interest. It was published just
before the contingent left Queensland :
"James Whamond Annat, one of the division
leaders of D Company in the Third Queens-
land Contingent, was born at Lintrathen,
Airlie, Scotland, in the year 1864. After
leaving school in 1880, he joined the Gordon
Highlanders, in preference to being sent to
the Dundee Grammar School. Though only
IG years of age; he was accepted as a full
fledged private. In January of the follow-
ing year he was sent out to South Africa,
where he joined, the Gordons, who were
taking part In the first Transvaal war. He
was in the Majuba Hill disaster, where he
was wounded towards the close of the battle
General Hector Macdonald, the hero of
Omdurman, and now in command of the
Highland Brigade, but who then was only
a lieutenant of the Gordons, being then in
the same battle. Of Macdonald's bravery
on that occasion Lieutenant Annat narrates
some striking incidents. Of about 200
Gordons who had climbed the hill during the
night, only thirteen were left from the list
of killed and wounded. It appears that
Macdonald and some of the others who were
left vainly appealed to Sir George Colley to
be allowed to charge. When the remnant
of the regiment returned to England, Lieu-
tenant Annat was transferred to the Argyle
and Sutherland Highlanders, with whom he
took part in the Zulu war in 1883-4. He
then went to Canada in 1887, being on the
staff in the North-west provinces. He
fought in the Indian rebellion raised by the
chief Sitting Bull, and was severely wound-
ed at Pdne Ridge in 1890. Leaving Canada,
he carne to New South Wales, where he
was on the staff as instructor, and after
Wards came to Queensland to act as in-
structor. He was then sent to take charge
of the 3rd Kennedy Regiment, and the
Kennedy Mounted Infantry. Being asked to
take a commission, he did so in 1895. For
the last few years be was engaged in mining
pursuits, and owned a mine on the New
South Wales border, with a crushing and
cyanide plant. At the time at his appoint-
ment to the contingent he was in command
of the L Company of the Queensland Rifles.
We learn that he leaves a wife and five
children, the eldest a boy 7 1/2 years old, and
the youngest an infant of 3 months.